So, here is a list no-one asked for – My favorite movies of 2025.
As I have already written reviews for them, I will just post a quote and a link if you’re interested in reading more.
I still have a select few on my to watch list, too, which I will get around to watching at some point.
Sinners
Sinners is a film that takes a lot of risks, it trusts its audience, and delivers something that sticks with you. It doesn’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow. It doesn’t tell you what to think. It just lays everything out and says, “This is the world. Now what?”
Train Dreams
If you’re wanting to watch a film that lets you reflect, settle in, and experience the quiet parts of someone’s life, Train Dreams is absolutely worth it.
It’s a film that invites you in, and that invitation fully pays off.
Marty Supreme
Marty Supreme challenges you, it challenges the characters, and it challenges what you think about ambition, drive, and morality, and through it all, Timothée Chalamet gives a performance that will probably haunt awards season for anyone trying to compete with him.
Marty Supreme Review
Ne Zha 2
For anyone who’s a fan of animated films, Chinese mythology, or just loves a good action flick, Ne Zha 2 is most certainly worth the watch. It’s a bold, colorful adventure that may not be perfect, but damn, is it a lot of fun.
Bring Her Back
Bring Her Back is not perfect, but it’s bold, weird, and it’ll probably haunt me longer than most “better” horror films. And in a genre that spits out forgettable jump-scare-fests like clockwork, that’s saying something.
Friendship
Friendship is a comedy that actually has something to say about loneliness, masculinity, and the desperate need for connection, but it never gets preachy, it just gets weird.
The Ugly Stepsister
The Ugly Stepsister is a body horror film that is deeply uncomfortable, weirdly beautiful, and emotionally disturbing in the best possible ways.
One Battle After Another
One Battle After Another refuses to play it safe, and delivers action and comedy that just delivers.
One Battle After Another Review
If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You
If you’ve ever been that close to the edge – the kind of exhaustion where you’re too tired to even cry – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You might hit a little too close to home, but that’s also what makes it so good.
If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You Review
Hamnet
Even with its slow pace and some overlong moments, Hamnet is tender, painful, beautifully acted, and meaningful.
Predator: Killer of Killers
Predator: Killer of Killers is smart without being smug, brutal without being empty, and surprisingly emotional for a franchise that once featured a handshake with the force of a small earthquake.
Predator: Killer of Killers Review
Predator: Badlands
This is another Predator movie that feels fresh, exciting, and surprisingly emotional, where yet again Trachtenberg has proven he knows exactly what he’s doing with this universe.
Weapons
Weapons is not going to be for everyone, and if you want a straight-up horror movie with constant scares, this isn’t it, but if you’re willing to let the film take its time and twist around, it’s absolutely worth the watch.
The Long Walk
The Long Walk is an exhausting film in all the right ways, and while it’s certainly not flashy, nor glamorous, it is a gripping, emotional, and thoughtful film, where the tension is constant, the performances are strong, and the story is both disturbing and oddly inspiring.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
This is the first Fantastic Four film where I walked out of the theater thinking, “Yeah, I’d actually watch that again.“ It’s funny, heartfelt, and cosmic without being overwhelming, and while it’s not the best Marvel movie ever made, it’s the best Fantastic Four one by a mile, and that finally feels like something worth celebrating.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review
Superman
I went in prepared to hate this thing, or at least feel absolutely nothing. It stumbles a little at times, and it won’t please everyone. But Superman 2025 is just fun and well-made.
Freaky Tales
If you need clean arcs, tight editing, and tonal consistency, walk away now. But if you like movies that take swings, big, weird, blood-splattered swings, this is worth your time.
The Life of Chuck
The Life of Chuck is one of those films you watch when you’re already thinking about your childhood, or your own mortality, or the fact that time is just an illusion.
Bugonia
Bugonia is a strange, thrilling, and occasionally frustrating film, but it’s funny and tragic all at once, and a film that will definitely divide audiences, but for me, the performances, visuals, and sheer audacity made it worth it.
Caught Stealing
Caught Stealing is a bit of a rare bird. It’s a comic crime caper that has heart, humor, and chaos all in equal measure. and Aronofsky steps out of his usual intense drama territory and nails the balance, creating a film that’s simultaneously thrilling, funny, and absurdly entertaining.
She Rides Shotgun
She Rides Shotgun is a powerful, flawed, emotional, and gritty film that earns its place in Taron Egerton’s filmography, where its best moments are more than strong enough to outweigh the weaker ones.
Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts* isn’t perfect at all, as it’s messy, uneven in parts, and still saddled with some of Marvel’s bad habits, but it also has a heart, and characters who actually feel like real people (or at least real people who occasionally throw tanks at each other). It’s trying something a little different, which I appreciated and liked.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
If Rian Johnson wants to keep making these forever, I’ll keep showing up, and just maybe next time, I’ll pretend I’m not trying to solve it and enjoy being wrong all over again.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Review
Hridayapoorvam
Hridayapoorvam is simply a celebration of simple human interactions, and it reminds you to notice people, to be present, and to value the ordinary moments that carry extraordinary significance.
Eddington
Eddington is a dark, sarcastic, and sometimes an uncomfortable film, but it’s also consistently clever, and it captures that weird blend of fear, stubbornness, and self-righteousness that defined so many peoples pandemic experiences so well at times.
Simon Leasher
A lover of cinema for over 35 years, I have watched many films from around the world in many different genres, yet I still normally always come back to trashy slasher horror films when in doubt. More
And yes, The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather.
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